Raziel enters the library from the eastern
door. Moebius stands at the balcony, surrounded by his mercenaries.

RazielIn my absence, the estate had been overrun by Moebius's soldiers.
I hoped that they had not yet found the entrance to the crypt, or discovered
the body of Janos. Of Vorador, there was no sign.

MoebiusRaziel
- the conquering hero. I understand we are to offer congratulations.
Kain, at last, is dead.

RazielI suppose you expect similar congratulations on the death of Vorador?
Or has he eluded you?

Moebius throws Vorador's sword at Raziel's
feet.

MoebiusWe have him. But not without a considerable price in blood.

RazielThat will have pleased him.

MoebiusLet it sustain him until his head is off, and every vampire in Nosgoth
at last is dead.

RazielAnd will that knowledge sustain you? You too are going to your
death.

MoebiusFor a true servant of the one God, death is never bitter. I will
go - again at peace with the knowledge that I have played my small part
in our master's plans. Kain is at last destroyed, and you have carried
out the deed. Which hero do you think you are now? The
vampire savior? Or the other one? Have you realized yet that
it didn't matter to us which one either of you thought you were, so long
as the result was the same in the end? And now, Kain is dead.
Really, I cannot thank you enough.

RazielSo this has all been arranged, every step of the way. And Kain
thought I truly had free will.

MoebiusOh, but you do. And there's the greatest triumph of all, to have
compelled the one player who could choose into doing exactly what we required.
Well done, faithful servant. And now - I have an execution
to see to.

With a gesture, Moebius unleashes his vampire
hunters upon Raziel, and exits.

Standing once again before Janos' lifeless
body, Raziel produces the Heart of Darkness and contemplates for a moment
--

RazielThis relic had come at so high a cost -- my blood
offering for the answers I sought from this enigmatic corpse. It
was the price of my freedom, for which Kain had paid with his life.

RazielHad I journeyed so far, and forsaken so much,
only to have it end like this?

Raziel
angrily raises his fist and begins to bring it down hard on Janos’ corpse,
but stops himself, and instead merely places his hand over the wound in
Janos’ chest. A jolt of energy passes through Raziel into the body.
The Reaver's power flows down Raziel's arm into Janos' chest. Janos'
eyes fly open. His body buckles and comes to life. He reaches
out and clutches Raziel’s arm with his nearest hand. Raziel's energy
is leeched into Janos, and the wound in Janos' chest begins to heal.
Janos gasps as though surfacing from a very deep and terrifying place.
Raziel breaks away from Janos, and backs up apprehensively. Janos
rises suddenly, looking down at his chest and clasping his heart.

JanoshoarselyI remember --

Janos looks intensely at Raziel as he slides
off of the burial slab and stands unsteadily.

Janos-- Raziel, the heir of prophecy... You came for
the Reaver - just before the Sarafan found me...

Janos touches his chest at the memory of his
murder. Raziel regards him with suspicion. His tone here is
flat, deadened -- after killing Kain, and realizing the Hylden prophecy,
Raziel is empty and disillusioned.

RazielYou've been entombed here for five centuries.
Your murderers are long dead.

Janosin disbeliefFive hundred years? And Vorador--

Razielinterrupting--also dead.

Janos
looks stricken.

RazielYour bloodline is erased. The age of the
vampires is coming to an end.

Janos is alarmed, trying to take all this in.

JanosThen we must waste no time -

Janos begins to step forward. Raziel
interrupts again --

RazielI'm not who you think I am. Nor is this a benevolent
act. I have questions that apparently you alone can answer.

Janosgrowing concernedRaziel, there are forces in this world that will
strive to deceive you and pervert your destiny. But you must believe
- your arrival foretells the salvation of the Vampire race.

Impatiently, Raziel cuts right to the heart
of the question --

RazielWhy then would the Vampires devise a weapon to
consume and imprison their savior?

Janos is taken aback, confused by this revelation
--

JanosNo - that cannot be...

Raziel continues, with controlled hostility
--

RazielWhile the blade yet exists, I am drawn inexorably
toward my doom. It was you who bound me to this fate. Only
you can release me.

JanosRaziel, you have been misled - you are ordained
by prophecy to wield the Reaver.

Janos adopts a romantically far-off expression.

RazielAnd so I do - though not quite as you'd envisioned.

Raziel summons the wraith-blade and brandishes
it before Janos, who regards this new revelation with astonishment.
Janos gasps softly and studies Raziel intently, as if seeing him for the
first time. Standing there, he does appear to be the Hylden hero,
with his blazing eyes and fiery sword. Janos appears to be approaching
a kind of epiphany. He thinks aloud, as though repeating an ominous
scrap of prophecy --

JanosRedeemer and destroyer...

This is not the first time Raziel has heard
these words -- his eyes flare with distrust. Janos continues, thinking
aloud --

Janos...is it possible? Did I misread all the
signs?

Janos addresses him with a new urgency --

JanosIt seems your destiny is more labyrinthian than
I had imagined. You must trust me, Raziel - we may have very little
time. I will convey you to the place where your answers lie.

The Citadel

Janos reaches out and grasps Raziel’s shoulders
with both hands. They are transported into the ruins of the ancient
Vampire Guardians' council chamber -- the remains of its windows look out
onto the Nosgoth landscape, and the Pillars beyond. Raziel breaks
from Janos' grip and takes a distrustful step backward, looking around
the room. He hasn't been here before, but he recognizes this as ancient
Vampire architecture.

RazielWhere have you brought me?

JanosWe are within the ancient citadel of the Vampire
race, long ago defiled and abandoned. This fortress endured
through centuries of war against our great enemy -

Raziel- the Hylden.

Janos is a little surprised to hear Raziel
speak the forbidden name, but he continues.

JanosYes. From this chamber we witnessed the
summoning of the Pillars, and the banishment of our adversaries from the
land.

Janos turns toward the ruined windows, and
sees the corrupted Pillars for the first time.

JanosThis is a dire omen... The Binding is in peril
- the hour of prophecy is at hand.

RazielIt's too late. The Pillars are already
damned.

JanosAs long as a single one of us stands, there is
still hope. The Pillars must not remain under human guardianship.
They are not competent to serve.

RazielWhy then did you allow the Pillars to fall into
human hands?

JanosRaziel, there is no time--

Raziel--I want answers. The world can end this
instant, for all I care.

Janos acquiesces.

JanosVery well. The Hylden cursed us as they
fell, afflicting our race with a predatory blood-thirst. But with
this transformation came our enemies' true revenge: immortality.

RazielThey liberated you from the Wheel of Fate.

Janos corrects him --

JanosThey imprisoned our souls in this flesh, expelling
us from the purifying cycle of death and rebirth.

Raziel reacts in disgust -- this sounds a bit
too familiar.

RazielAnd yet you passed the curse on.

JanosIt was a necessary evil. Our immortality
banished us from God's grace - He turned His sight from us, and fell silent.
Many took their own lives, unable to bear the separation from our God.

RazieldistrustfullyNot you, though.

JanosCurse or blessing, it is the price we pay to
keep the Hylden banished from the land. To sustain the Binding, we
had to preserve our bloodline. And so we passed the dark gift to
the human successors of our fallen Guardians. They rebelled, inevitably,
refusing the curse and seizing the Pillars as their own.And so we come to our present dilemma.
While mankind governs the Pillars, the Binding decays. The Hylden
strain against the barriers of their prison, scratching to gain a foothold
back into this world.

RazielAnd what does all this mean to me?

JanosWe stand at the threshold of a new aeon, Raziel,
and you are the fulcrum upon which our destiny turns. Beneath this
room lies our innermost sanctum -

Janos gazes blankly for a moment, as if sensing
something.

Janosconcerned- the outer chamber has been opened. It
appears events are already in motion.

Janos removes a golden torque from around his
neck, and gives it to Raziel. We see that the ring forms the symbol
of the ouroboros -- the head of the golden snake devouring its own tail.

JanosThis token is the key to the mysteries you seek.
I cannot accompany you; you must face this trial alone. If you prevail,
you will have your answers.

RazielAnd if I fail the test?

JanosforebodinglyThen you will not return.

Janos takes a step backward and dematerializes,
teleporting himself out of the room.

Using the ouroboros key Janos gave him, Raziel
enters the Spirit Forge beneath the Citadel. To his dismay, he finds
the entire chamber infested with the mass of the Elder God.

RazielI should have known I'd find you here.

Elder GodHere and everywhere... Now and always. I am the Wheel and its
turning; I am the Circle of life and death.

Raziel- and I am beginning to think the Vampires committed suicide only to
escape your voice.

Ariel
It is
accomplished. The Forge summons the spirit of every Balance Guardian
to itself, for this final purpose.

RazielAriel? You?

ArielYes, Raziel - yet I am much more than I was. The veil is lifted
from my sight. My spirit, united with the souls of my predecessors,
is drawn here now for the final baptism of the blade. To restore
Balance, the sword must be rendered pure by Spirit. Release me, Raziel
- the Soul Reaver has the power. Release us all. For this we
were called.

With his left hand, Raziel reaches out toward
the pure white fire that surrounds Ariel's spirit. The energy flows
to him and through his body, into the wraith blade in his right hand.
The Soul Reaver is imbued with splendid, transfiguring flames, as Ariel's
spirit is consumed.

ArielYou have done well, Raziel. But there is one more trial for you
to bear. You must unite that which has been set asunder... only then
will the Scion of Balance be armed for his true endeavor. Only then...

Ariel's voice fades, and the Citadel trembles
loudly.

RazielThe Reaver now blazed with purifying flame. But far from being
enlightened, I found myself entangled in an even greater web of mysteries.
What had Janos expected me to learn? And what of Ariel's cryptic
message? If the sword was endowed for the Scion of Balance - for
Kain - and he was now dead, what hope remained? I needed to find
Janos, and soon. I dreaded to think what these ominous rumblings
might portend.

Raziel returns to Janos in the Council Chamber.
Janos stands by the ruined windows, looking anxiously out at the vista
of the Pillars.

RazielJanos! What is this?!

JanosalarmedThe Binding is failing - all is lost.

The Citadel trembles again as the catastrophe
approaches. Raziel looks out upon this portentous scene.

RazielWe had arrived at that cataclysmic moment, when a younger Kain faced
his fateful dilemma as Balance Guardian. Choosing self-preservation
over sacrifice, he doomed the Pillars to eternal ruin.

Hurriedly, Janos turns to Raziel --

JanosRaziel, there may yet be hope. There is One who will be called;
you must seek the Scion of Balance--

Janos' words are cut off as a huge tremor blasts
the Citadel. Janos turns back to the Pillars, and we see them begin
to shatter and fall --

Janos
Dear god...

-- followed by another, massive blast.
The scene is apocalyptic. The collapse of the Pillars creates a dimensional
rift that spreads across the land. A blast wave radiates out from
the falling Pillars, tearing across the landscape. Raziel recoils,
and Janos stiffens as the blast strikes the Citadel. As Janos recovers,
he is changed. His body is now inhabited by a different entity --
the same being Raziel encountered before, when Mortanius was possessed.
The Hylden Lord turns to Raziel, grinning.

Hylden LordAh, Raziel, we meet again. You have played your part flawlessly.
It is gratifying to attain both freedom and vengeance in a single stroke.

The Hylden Lord convulses slightly, and Janos
struggles to break through --

Janoswith an effortNo - you can not...

His head jerks, and the Hylden Lord is back
in control.

Hylden LordThis one is strong... good. My next move requires a more durable
host. Mortals are such fragile vessels. Willing or not, you
have provided the instrument of our victory.

Raziel summons the wraith blade, now blazing
with power after its baptism in the Spirit Forge.

RazielthreateningI wouldn't celebrate just yet.

Hylden LordYou pathetic creature - you haven't got a clue. The seduction
of the Circle and possession of Mortanius; Ariel's murder; the corruption
and collapse of the Pillars: all orchestrated as a prelude to this moment.
We sought an incorruptible vessel, and you provided one. We required
the blood of our ancient enemy, and you delivered Janos Audron - having
first been lured to the Heart of Darkness. Best of all, you murdered
the Scion of Balance to get it. We've already won.

The Hylden Lord convulses again, and Janos
breaks through, fighting for control --

JanosurgentlyRaziel, you must not allow them to carry out their plan. Kill
me, and you end it now.

Another spasm --

Hylden LorddisgustedSuicidal, like the rest of them. Know your place, Raziel.
The true hero plays his role, and then steps aside.

The Hylden Lord makes to leave the chamber,
but Raziel blocks him, flourishing the wraith blade.

Hylden LordlaughterYou deluded ghoul. Do you so wish to die a martyr for the Vampires'
lost cause?

RazielYou're not leaving this chamber. I will destroy Janos if I have
to.

Hylden LordVery well then, I'll indulge you...

They battle. Raziel delivers what appears
to be a killing blow, sending the Hylden Lord in Janos' body to the ground.
Raziel stands over the broken body, and for a moment, Janos' eyes clear
--

JanosRaziel... Finish it - before he returns...

Raziel hesitates, unwilling to destroy Janos.
The Hylden Lord, not fully dispelled, seizes the moment to regain possession
of Janos. He rapidly gets to Janos' feet, blazing with fury over
his near-defeat.